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Ken Dryden
Ken Dryden - Ken Dryden’s hockey career was a great one, but it was also a short one. This former Vezina Trophy winner, who helped the Montreal Canadiens win six Stanley Cups (1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979) with his outstanding net minding, was born in Hamilton in 1947, but his family soon moved to Toronto. According to Dave Dryden, his brother put his goalie pads on in 1954, and was impressed with his younger brother’s abilities. “There was lots of goaltending equipment around and Ken started using it,” said the former Buffalo Sabres netminder. “He picked up on goaltending real quick…it was just natural for him.” Before playing with the Habs, Dryden received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University, where he also played. He was drafted by the Boston Bruins in 1964 in the amateur draft, but refused to report. He was traded to Montreal, and started with the club during the 1971 season.
Right away this six-foot, four-inch tall goal tender displayed his moves around the net. In the first round of post-season play, Dryden continuously frustrated the Bruins in the seven-game series. Montreal then went on to defeat both the Minnesota North Stars and the Chicago Black Hawks to win the Cup. Dryden’s performance was rewarded with the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most outstanding player. When at Cornell, where he was all-American three times, he was known as “the monster.” Johnny McKenzie of the Bruins had this assessment of Dryden after the Montreal-Boston series in 1971: “That hand of his is something else,” McKenzie said. “We’ve caught him out of position at least a dozen times and shot for three-quarters of an empty net. Zap – that big mitt comes out of thin air. Twice I’ve had my stick in the air and was breaking into my goal-scoring dance when he’s done that.” But when he wasn’t wearing his skates and pads, Dryden was working on his law degree, which he obtained from Montreal’s McGill University. He also spent time in 1971 working with US consumer advocate Ralph Nader on water pollution and a clean-water campaign, mostly in the commercial and sport fishing areas. Dryden returned to Montreal for the 1972-73 season, and also played
for Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet hockey
team.
Not thrilled with the contract offered by Montreal, Dryden did not play for the 1973-74 season, and finished getting his law degree along with articling for a law firm. Press reports at the time speculated that Dryden would eventually return to Montreal for the remainder of his two-year contract, along with playing for the Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association. Dryden said at the time relinquishing his $95,000 salary with the Habs for $7,000 working for a Toronto law firm was “by far the most difficult decision I’ve made,” adding he did not want to wait another 10 years to work in law after his hockey career. He was also upset at the amount offered by Montreal, claiming
he felt he was worth more. It appeared the Canadiens needed Dryden more than he needed them, for he was suited up to play once again for the 1975-76 season with a new deal in his favor, and remained with the team for the rest of his career, until he finished playing for good after the 1978-79 season. And Dryden didn’t miss a beat, with remarkable goal-tending statistics. For three years in a row, 1976-78, Montreal was invincible, and Dryden was a major part of the club’s success. His goals-against mark never went over 2.30 per game. For the 1976-77 season he played 56 games and had 10 shutouts with a meager 2.14 goals-against posting in regular season, and for the 14-game playoff session, he recorded four shutouts and a 1.56-goals-against mark. Dryden left hockey after 1979, but certainly kept active, both
in and out of the sport. In 1984 Dryden was appointed Ontario’s first Youth Commissioner, and returned to hockey as president of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1997 for a brief period. A year before he created the Ken Dryden Scholarship, awarded to young people from welfare who demonstrate great promise. Since he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 2004, Dryden has represented York Center in Parliament as a member of the Liberal Party. He was re-elected to the position in 2006. In 1979, Spectator columnist Bob Hanley had Dryden figured out: “He is frugal and he is said to love money,” said Hanley, “but he has a deeper compulsion to find something more meaningful to do with his life. “Big Ken has been famous for his logical and erudite analyses…he talks more like a spaceman with a literary bent than he does like a goaltender.” But on the eve of Montreal’s quest for another Stanley Cup with Dryden in the net in May of that year, Hanley’s comments would come true several years later. “Dryden has an intellect to exercise and he doesn’t believe it is being adequately tested by stopping pucks. The betting is that he will turn to some sort of public service field.” He played in 397 NHL games, with 258 wins. He won, the Conn Smythe
Trophy in 1971,
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